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I couldn't tell if the hunt scenes looked too fake - considerng the costumes and all it would be hard to tell. I do know that sometime people will peel off and go another direction to jump something or wait so they can blast up behind..

Did enjoy tonight's episode where "Dragon" lost a shoe so the girls kindly walked him looking for a farrier.. then stopped in the middle of a mud pit to graze... and then took off..

I watched the first episode last night, I'm looking forward to watching the second episode which is On Demand right now. Hopefully there are more riding scenes to come! In the first episode there was only that brief moment where Mary popped in wearing a pretty nondescript riding habit...

I think the 'house' they are using is owned by Prince Charles, Highclere? Does anyone know for sure?

Yep!

The great house 'playing’ Downton Abbey is a statement in itself. Set in 6,000 acres of verdant Berkshire countryside and boasting a park by Capability Brown, Highclere Castle is in the high-Elizabethan style, and was redesigned in the 19th century by Sir Charles Barry, the architect who rebuilt the Houses of Parliament. The home of the 8th Earl and Countess of Carnarvon, it has been used only rarely on television or in cinema: for Jeeves and Wooster, and for Stanley Kubrick’s final film Eyes Wide Shut.

LOVING it!! I don't have television (yes, decided to spend the extra 100 a month on my horse) so I watched the first two episodes on PBS online. Gotta go check and see when the third episode is online! LOVING it!!

Needs more hunting scenes, seeing as "yes, we are a hunting family".

Airborne? Oh. Yes, he can take a joke. Once. After that, the joke's on you.

The close-ups of Lady Mary and the Turk riding did not look "real" but the rest of the distance shots were believable.

As for poor Dragon, perhaps the threat of being sent off to be made into glue got his attention. The "governess cart" looked more like some kind of road cart. All the governess carts I've seen pictured were like tubs on wheels entered from the rear, often made of wicker.

I have seen in person a ca. 1860 restored wicker lady's phaeton that a friend had. That was pretty interesting. The lines were lovely and there were all kinds of unexpected details in the ironwork.

I loved the draft horse pulling a hay cart that gave the valet a lift in Episode III Sunday. That same horse and cart was used as background in a couple of the village scenes.The automobile is interesting, and would probably have been something a more forward-looking lord would have had, but I don't know much about early automobiles except the vivid description my late mother-in-law gave of the first one she had seen.

She was from St. Martinville, a small town in Louisiana's French or Cajun country. She said everyone had a buggy, carriage or a wagon when she was growing up. One day she saw what looked like a buggy parked on a town street, but there was no horse or shafts. When she asked, she was told it was one of those "nouveau voiture sans cheval" or an "automobile."

The house that doubles for Downton Abby is very impressive, and I imagine it would take someone very wealthy like Prince Charles to keep it up. The storyline is set just about 100 years ago. It is amazing to think of all the changes that have happened in those 100 years.

The producers have just announced that a second season will begin filming in March and will be on UK TV this fall. I guess we will get that season beginning next January. Maybe there will be some more horse scenes in the last episode of the first season that airs next Sunday, or some in the up-coming season.

I couldn't tell if the hunt scenes looked too fake - considerng the costumes and all it would be hard to tell. I do know that sometime people will peel off and go another direction to jump something or wait so they can blast up behind..

Did enjoy tonight's episode where "Dragon" lost a shoe so the girls kindly walked him looking for a farrier.. then stopped in the middle of a mud pit to graze... and then took off..

That was very amusing! I did find it kind of odd/ funny though that they just didn't stay IN the carriage and kept him at a walk... I mean their weight in the carriage wouldn't have made much difference to Dragon I'd imagine... (though I do understand that it made for better story for him to take off and leave them! )

Haven't seen it yet, but reading these comments- it' s on my list. Has anyone seen ( or remember) "The Irish RM", A PBS series many years ago? There were 6 seasons in the series. The hunt scenes were really good and lots of horse related themes, some of them pretty funny. Also, the costumes were beautiful. My library has them all on VHS.

Had to give voice on this one. Foxhound Kelly, honorably retired this year, asked me to let you all know that the fox hunting scenes seemed so true to life, from her position (comfortably reclined on the couch---thank you very much!), that she was sent running from window-to-window trying to find the Huntsman and those other hounds.